


Aftermath

by SventheCrusader



Series: High Fantasy Booking [1]
Category: WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Face Alexa, cw: blood, heel bayley, i've written worse but still, messy complicated crossbliss friendship, reality-defying oddball nikki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 12:48:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19394473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SventheCrusader/pseuds/SventheCrusader
Summary: The world had turned upside-down in one terrible flash, leaving only a fallen hero and two survivors to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of the storm.





	Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> So this story spawned from nothing but pure, high-octane fantasy booking - specifically what I dearly want to see from Alexa Bliss, Nikki Cross, and Bayley come Summerslam - and got its start on Tumblr, where certain fans put it over (if you will) to a way higher degree than I had expected when I wrote it. On the suggestion of one of said fans (thanks, Rainy), here it is for AO3 enjoyment as well.
> 
> At least, I certainly hope!

**Alexa.**

When Alexa rose to her feet (staggered, more like, and only because she had the ropes for leverage), everything hurt.

She had no idea what specifically went wrong, nor at what specific point in time. All she knew with certainty was that she had been firmly in control of her circumstances at one moment - desperate and running out of options, maybe, but still in control - and then hurtling across the ring at the next. When Alexa had recovered from the impact, at least as best she could, she had turned onto her back to see

( _hair unbound and sweat-plastered to her face, eyes dead with laser-focused hatred)_

Bayley looming above her, the kendo stick Alexa had fetched from beneath the ring a lethal extension of her shadow. Never would she have admitted such a thing to herself in any other circumstance, but it had been all Alexa could do - all she could _physically_ do - to try and crawl away, but the ringpost had risen up to meet her and she’d been literally backed into a corner.

_(like a cat cowering from a dog)_

Alexa supposed that, from a karmic perspective, she’d deserved the beating she was given. Every welting strike and red-hot spike of pain, because it was exactly what Alexa herself would have done to Bayley if their situations were reversed, and was exactly what Alexa had done to her once already, long ago.

Normally Alexa would have followed that thought with, _I still wouldn’t change a thing. I’d still do it all again. It’d still all be worth it._

But not tonight. Not when the pain wracking her was so great she could barely stand, and not when she could see Bayley at the other corner of the ring, unloading the same ungodly fury upon the only person left in the world with any great desire to call Alexa Bliss a friend.

Nikki. Poor, oblivious Nikki Cross, who wanted only for a friend after the dispersal of SAnitY; who Alexa had intended to use for her worth and discard like all the rest, but could never quite bring herself to just throw away; who had stood by Alexa’s side time and time again, who Alexa had managed to drive away in the end regardless, who had come back in spite of everything and taken the full, unholy wrath of the monster Alexa had unleashed for her efforts.

It was bad enough that Bayley had reduced Alexa to cowering in a corner like some shivering rodent, and it was bad enough that she now felt only _terror_ when it came to the rampaging monster across the ring from her. Those things were

_(humbling)_

shameful enough on their own. But watching Nikki Cross - an oddball among oddballs, but well-meaning and loyal - take a beating that was supposed to be _hers, hers alone,_ made Alexa feel an ache deeper and more stabbing than the physical pain still washing over her in waves.

She had done everything in her power to try and push it aside. God help her, she had _tried._ But in the end, Alexa had come to think of Nikki as more than just a resource - the term _ally_ had come to mind, as had (much more fleetingly, and much more confusingly) _friend_ \- and now, because of her, Nikki had been sucked into the monstrous, unkillable hurricane that had become Bayley.

Alexa Bliss didn’t often feel shame. Shame was the tool of plodders, of people with no great ambitions and no great futures. But _shame_ didn’t accurately describe what she felt now.

_(it’s guilt, you know what it is and you know you deserve to feel it)_

Finally managing to balance herself against the turnbuckles, Alexa cast a glance through the ropes, toward the entry ramp. The part of her which had won so many matches on craft and cunning alone, the ruthless predator which had always dominated her being, assured Alexa that there was nothing to lose by cutting her losses and making her escape, least of all when the referee was still seeing stars on the mat a few feet away. Alexa entertained that voice very briefly, and with great longing - and then she saw the kendo stick come up again, then snap back down, and all at once Alexa felt lower and more craven than ever.

_(nikki is over in that corner and you put her there)_

For the first time in years, Alexa Bliss thought, with perfect clarity: _What have I done? God, what have I done?_

But she knew the answer, of course. She had pushed and pushed until she had finally sent Bayley over the edge, past a breaking point Alexa (and she suspected Bayley herself) never really fathomed could be there, and now Bayley had become something new and completely, horrifyingly unknowable.

Alexa’s eyes flicked to the entrance ramp again, but she just couldn’t keep them there. Any time she tried, her gaze was drawn back to the massacre taking place in the opposite corner of the ring.

_(you put her there)_

Alexa drew in all the breath her bruised ribs would allow her. She thought, _This wasn’t supposed to happen._

Alexa slowly straightened, mustering all of her willpower to ignore the screaming protests of her badly-wronged body. She thought, _It was supposed to be simple. Get in the ring and win, no matter what it takes._

Alexa tested her weight with a step forward, nearly lost her footing, and caught herself, the next step coming easier. She thought, _I didn’t want this, Cross. I really didn’t want this. But now I’ve put you here._

_(you put her here now_ **_get her out_ ** _)_

Even on her weakened legs, even with only a ghost of her stamina left, Alexa took only the space of a second to reach the other corner of the ring. Just as the kendo stick came up for another rousing crescendo, she seized Bayley by her unbound hair and the back of her vest and dragged her backwards, wheeling her around so they were once more face-to-face. Alexa saw the cold, dead blackness in Bayley’s eyes again - the monstrous black hole of fury and hatred that Alexa had personally unleashed - and felt a cold spike of terror go through her, but it wasn’t enough to stop her. Not now that she had made her decision, now now that she had adrenaline fueling her, and not now that she could make out Nikki’s form crumpled up against the ringpost, as if to say, _Look upon your works, Alexa, and despair_. Putting all of her meager frame and scant remaining strength behind it, Alexa snapped her elbow into Bayley’s jaw in a rolling blow, stunning her just long enough to give Alexa time to haul Bayley’s head under her arm. A deep, barely-conscious part of her recognized that a DDT was likely to do more damage to herself than to the berserker she was faced with, but it was all she had the strength left to do.

Alexa thought, _Let this be enough. Let this be it._

Then, _And if not, at least let her finish me off and be done with it._

And no sooner had she thought that did Alexa hear and feel something _snap_ somewhere below her diaphragm. For half a second, that sound - so enormous, so _final_ \- was all she knew. Then pain _rocketed_ through her midsection, almost consuming in its enormity, and a bright red firework exploded across her vision. Alexa felt her breath leave her lungs in a single great, burning gasp, felt her knees buckle beneath her, and felt the mat rise up to greet her descent. On instinct alone, she threw her arms out to break her fall, only just managing to keep herself from hitting the canvas face-first.

Alexa tried to take in a breath, but discovered that she simply… _couldn’t._ She tried again, suddenly feeling herself becoming almost hungry for air, and the wheezing breath Alexa drew in instead turned into hard, wracking coughs that sent pain lancing through her midsection all over again. She realized then, with a slow dawning somewhere between cold horror and tired acceptance, that her mouth tasted _coppery_ , and Alexa’s slowly-returning vision confirmed the suspicion behind it: the canvas beneath her was stained crimson red.

With the last gasps of her strength, Alexa craned her head and flicked her eyes upward, first taking note of the snapped half of the kendo stick dangling from Bayley’s hand, then finally meeting her eyes. Still cold. Still dead. Still robbed of everything that had ever made her Bayley…ever made her a target.

Alexa thought, _I bet you’re satisfied. I guess you have a right to be._ Then her eyes slid slowly down to Nikki, who was just barely starting to stir, and she added, _Get up, Cross. For God’s sake, get up and get out of here while you can._

And then her arms gave out under her and the world began to swim away to black. Before it did, Alexa had time enough for one last thought: _The miracle of a Goddess’ creation._

And then she was gone.

**Nikki.**

When Nikki came back around, vision blurry and slowly swimming, everything hurt.

In and of itself, that was alright. That she was used to. Nikki was no stranger to hellacious beatings; she had given and taken more than her fair share of them alongside her SAnitY brothers, her encounters with Asuka coming immediately to mind. But this time she had been knocked out cold, which was _not_ a common experience, and this time she barely had the strength left to drag her eyes open and try to sit up.

Not good. Not when Nikki knew full well the extents of her strength and stamina and how much punishment it must have taken to sap all of those reserves so quickly.

Hearing herself groan as she moved, Nikki slowly craned her head upwards, eyes searching the ring. Across from her, laid out on the mat just a little bit closer than the middle of the ring, she could see Alexa, blurred and obscure in Nikki’s swimming eyesight but obviously there: blonde-and-pink hair, blue-and-black gear, and

_(oh, jesus)_

a bright red claret of blood splashed across her face. Not knowing exactly what had happened, but understanding from experience what it meant, Nikki instinctively put an arm out in front of her to drag herself forward, finding that easier and considerably less painful than trying to move her bruised, uncooperative legs. Her other arm was similarly not cooperating just yet, so this would do.

_(something’s missing)_

The thought hit Nikki like a fist as she tried to move, and she recognized the implication of it almost immediately. Flicking frantic eyes about the ring, searching but not finding, she thought: _Where’s Bayley. Where has she gone. Please, fucking_ **please** _tell me she’s not-_

And at that moment, she did. A great shadow descended from above and Nikki - vision clearing a bit now - saw Alexa, still motionless just a few scant _godforsaken_ feet away from Nikki, take the full impact of Bayley’s Diving Elbow just as the referee staggered over, finally rousing from eating a careless knee strike earlier in the match. At that point, the three-count was practically a formality, because Nikki knew with cold, terrible surety that Alexa no longer had the strength to get out of it.

Somewhere above her, Nikki heard the sound of Bayley’s music, but she didn’t care. Up ahead, Nikki saw Bayley seize her title from the referee’s hands without ceremony or celebration and stalk out of the ring, her job done, but she didn’t care. Behind her, Nikki’s legs were only barely starting to work again, but she didn’t care.

Instead she stood. Staggered, nearly sprawled out on the mat again, but stood. She was rewarded with a full view of the carnage: a bloody mat and a bloody Alexa, a scene broken only by two violently-snapped halves of a judiciously-used kendo stick. Nikki supposed she shouldn’t feel as disgusted as she felt. She’d seen worse in her life, and Alexa certainly hadn’t given her any great reason to care that she’d met such a fate in the weeks leading up to this. But there was something about the picture painted before her - bloody mat, broken Alexa and broken weapon, and Bayley stalking away as though she no longer felt anything in the world - that created a deep, grasping horror unto its own.

And there was something else. Before their partnership had dissolved in the leadup to this show (Nikki had earned a TV title opportunity that Alexa had completely believed should have been her own and all hell had broken loose), Nikki had closed their association off with one statement, not fully believed but more meant to spite Alexa: “You could be so much better than what Bayley thinks you are.”

And given that Alexa was the one laid out on the mat, that Bayley had at some point given up on beating Nikki within an inch of her life and switched targets again, it looked like she had been right about Alexa after all. Nikki couldn’t know with absolute certainty, but the image was clear enough: Alexa had stepped in and dearly paid for it. With the state Bayley was in, the damage already done to Alexa over the course of the match, and the one-sided mismatch of their strength and respective heights, she hadn’t stood a chance.

_(guess you had it in you after all)_

Nikki managed only a few staggering steps more before her knees gave out, but it was enough to put her at Alexa’s side, up by her shoulders. She flicked her eyes up at the referee,groggily trying to rouse Alexa and ask her if she was alright and not doing a successful job of it at all. “Get out,” she said, pain and breathlessness making her voice sound more like a growl than she intended. Nikki suspected she looked like a wild animal just now, and why not? She’d just been mauled like one. She’d earned it. “Get out of here and get help. She’s hurt.”

The ref hesitated for a moment before murmuring agreement, staggering up and making her way to the ropes to call for medical staff. For Nikki’s part, she maneuvered one leg (painstakingly) out in front of her, slid the other (painfully) beneath it, and tugged Alexa’s prone form very carefully into her lap. She looked a lot more than just hurt, and were it not for the sips of breath she was taking (at pains to do so, by the sound of her), Nikki might have assumed she was _dead._ At first Nikki thought Alexa was still out like a light, but the movement finally roused her. Her eyes flicked open, then flicked up.

“N…Nikki,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Her breathing was rough and labored and blood glistened on her teeth.

“Hey, Alexa,” Nikki said, her own voice still that harsh, damage-wearied rasp. “Got our asses kicked, didn’t we?”

“Didn’t…“ Alexa coughed, flecking her pale face with more droplets of crimson. “Think she’d…do that.”

Mentally, Nikki reflected on how truly pathetic it was that this was the first truly level, honest conversation she’d had with Alexa.

_(what a pair we are)_

“Didn’t either,” Nikki agreed, easing back and letting some of the built-up tension leave her in a long exhalation. She was tired, she was fucking _exhausted,_ but apparently her duty wasn’t yet done. Nikki slipped her right arm around Alexa’s midsection, safely below the godawful welt forming across her lower ribs, and moved her left downward, very gently taking Alexa’s hand. She’d been terrible to Nikki in the calm before the storm, had been terrible _generally_ for much longer than that, but she deserved better than to suffer alone. “Take it easy, Lexie. Keep still.”

Alexa looked up at her, her improbably blue eyes glassed over with pain, and Nikki could see the wonderment in them. They said, _What have I done, and why did you try and stop it?_

God help her, Alexa still couldn’t wrap her head around it.

But instead of giving voice to what showed in her eyes, she tightened her fingers around Nikki’s hand and said, “Don’t…leave.”

Nikki cracked a grin, using her unoccupied hand to brush back a sheaf of blonde hair stuck to Alexa’s face by the blood there. Somewhere far away, she heard the sound of the medical team making their entrance. “You’re stuck with me.”

She thought, _We’ll make it work._

She saw Bayley in her mind and also thought, _And I’ll make her pay. For both of us. Someday, some way. I’m good at that._

But for now, she had a job to do.

_We’ll make it work._


End file.
